Pease Park and Ride lot set for spring expansion

PORTSMOUTH — Ground should break next spring for an additional 133 parking spaces at the Portsmouth Transportation Center on Grafton Road.

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By Paul Briand

seacoastonline.com

By Paul Briand

Posted Dec. 19, 2013 at 2:15 PM

By Paul Briand
Posted Dec. 19, 2013 at 2:15 PM

» Social News

PORTSMOUTH — Ground should break next spring for an additional 133 parking spaces at the Portsmouth Transportation Center on Grafton Road.

Bill Boynton, spokesman for the N.H. Department of Transportation, said work will start on the $500,000 to $600,000 project with the beginning of the 2014 construction season in the spring.

In all, according to Boynton, an additional 170 spaces are expected to help alleviate frequent parking issues at the DOT transportation center that serves as a Park and Ride site and as a parking facility for two bus lines — C&J to New York and Boston and the new East-West Express service between Portsmouth and Manchester.

The bulk of the new spaces will come from a new parking area on a third of an acre of land adjacent to the current overflow lot along Grafton Road. The rest will come from re-striping the current lot.

Money for the project will come from federal funds used to reduce the number of vehicles on the road, thus reducing air pollution, Boynton said.

Boynton called the Pease facility "the most successful Park and Ride in the state."

"It's a problem I guess we'd like to have with all our Park and Ride lots," he said of the crowded parking.

Boynton said the state DOT worked out what he called a "right of entry" to use the land that is overseen by the Pease Development Authority.

David Mullen, the authority's executive director, said a buffer will have to be taken into consideration with the construction of the new lot to protect an aquifer and well, which are both used by the city of Portsmouth.

Mullen agrees with Boynton that a popular Park and Ride facility is a good problem to have.

"When the Dover Park and Ride was built, the thought was it would relieve the pressure, but it turns out that hasn't happened," Mullen said.

The construction and re-striping project could very well squeeze parking even more for a while. "That could be a challenge," Boynton said, "but we'll have to accommodate that as much as possible."

Currently, the DOT occupies about 17 acres of land on the Pease International Tradeport. When the transportation center was built on what was then considered conservation land in 2000, the DOT reimbursed Pease by constructing the Grafton Road entrance to the Tradeport. That project, which cost roughly $4.3 million, was considered to be compensation given to Pease for the land. Because of that arrangement, the DOT will not have to pay for the additional .33 acres.